CareyB
Active member
abalex said:
I get where you're coming from, and I agree that you as the artist should decide the medium, film or digital. Since I don't come from a film background as such, rather storytelling and photography, I'm on a bit of a runway to getting a feature done. I have no end of stories to tell, all speculative fiction. But I've decided to bite off a small enough bite to start with, one that I can actually swallow. Being a one-man show is something I've always enjoyed wrapping my wits around, whatever the endeavor. But storytelling, visual storytelling as in film, is the most compelling medium possible in our time, and maybe for all time.
The story I'm biting off is a short, but it's a story that has some real horsepower, and it's without doubt the best thing I've ever created. As a short movie, done right, it'd literally knock one's socks off. Sure, it'd be a bit controversial (and what good story wouldn't). My point here is, like everything else we learn and ply to good effect, moviemaking (filmmaking) for someone from another dicipline (or inexperienced) must be approached on a gradient. So I am wrapping my wits around what will probably wind up a short of likely no more than 15 minutes in length, but one I'm able to wrap my wits about.
I too am aiming for the festival circuit, but I believe that by picking an impactful story, doing it right, and getting it on the right screens, I will find a sympathetic audience. Where I live in the midwest we have no small number of short films being created, and you would be surprised at what actually makes it onto the screens of festivals like SUNDANCE. I suggest you check out their web site (Sundance that is). All shorts that were accepted into the 2006 competition are available for viewing on the web, for free. It's a real education just checking them out--especially what won. Some are what I'd call art, others I'd have to describe as just perhaps the best of the mundane crap that's being made today. But it shows that the bar really isn't very high to being accepted into such a festival.
The real crux of what I'm getting at is this. With so many people in this world wanting to be entertained and so few storytellers really offering anything worthy of the viewers (readers) time, there's a lot of really mediocre work being published/produced. So a lot of what's being viewed or read is stuff that in a smaller world (say our world from Dickens through the 1930's) would never be produced or published. One doesn't have to be a Spielberg or a Lucas to find an audience, but I think one would find success most likely starting out taking little steps as he starts.
If your dream is somethng like Sundance, and then an Adademy Award, then you can do that with a short film too. And maybe even have a better chance because you'd be competing against others at a similar point on the gradient (runway) toward a big production. There are some really great short films out there, some are making it all the way every year. If you are planning on being there Oscar night then put a film (and I use the term losely on this particular thread) in the Palm Springs Short Film Festival. That's where the winners usually wind up accepted for nomination to the Oscar for best short film competition. And you can submit to them on DVD, and won't have to do a film transfer unti you are one of the two best in the competition. (Hell, they even have a short film market at the Palm Springs Festival where your film will be available to the short film market whether you are a winner or not, just for being accepted into the competition). Check out their site on the web. It happens every year, and it's much easier with a short Oscar under your belt to have someone take you seriously on your first feature.
For what it's worth,
Carey
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